Women's Volleyball Salvages Split in New York

The Harvard women’s volleyball squad fought a hardscrabble match, the season’s first to last five games, ultimately falling to Cornell (6-10, 3-2 Ivy) on Friday. But the squad salvaged the demanding New York road trip with a three-game win over Columbia (3-13, 0-5 Ivy) on Saturday.

The Crimson (7-11, 2-4 Ivy) was unable to build a victory around senior Mimi Hanley’s career-high 21 kills on Friday, as Harvard’s dominance in games one and three was counterbalanced by Big Red rallies in games two, four and five.

But on Saturday, the story was different. The Crimson handily defeated Columbia, racing ahead of the Lions early in all three games and never relinquishing the lead in the two final games.

Next weekend, Harvard will face tough conference opponents Princeton and Penn. The Tigers are undefeated in league play.

Though Princeton is undefeated, “there is a lot of parity in the league, anyone can beat anyone,” head coach Jennifer Weiss said. “We have a lot of work to do in practice, but both are beatable if we stick with our game plan.”

HARVARD 3, COLUMBIA 0

Led by junior Katherine McKinley and senior Laura Mahon on offense, Harvard forced Columbia to look elsewhere for its first Ivy League victory, triumphing, 3-0 (30-22, 30-18, 30-23).

Starting the match strong with an early 9-3 lead in game one, the squad displayed an effective strategy and maintained an upbeat mentality at the end of its road trip.

“It was a lot of fun,” captain Suzie Trimble said. “We were pretty relaxed, and you can tell by our play that that we weren’t tight or nervous.”

After taking the first game, 30-23, the Crimson raced away from the Lions with a 6-0 lead at the start of game two.

Though the Lions made attempts to close the gap, they remained unable to seize the lead, allowing a 30-18 Harvard victory.

Weiss praised her team’s ball control and execution.

“Confidence and momentum were there,” Weiss said.

“We did a god job of serving them off the court and only leaving them one option with the ball,” Trimble added.

Sophomore Lily Durwood served seven straight points to open the final game, and the squad took the game, 30-23.

The Crimson dominated in all facets of the game, out-hitting (.269 to .178), out-killing (42-38), and out-digging (32-28) the Lions.

CORNELL 3, HARVARD 2

In a back-and-forth match that culminated in a fifth frame with four lead changes and a final score of 16-14, Harvard and Cornell proved evenly matched, but the Big Red took the contest, 3-2 (30-17, 32-34, 30-17, 26-30, 14-16).

“It came down to just a couple points at the end, and we dominated two games,” Weiss said.

Hanley’s career and match-high 21 kills and .462 hitting percentage made her the standout player in this tense match.

“Mimi had an awesome night. Every time she touched the ball, it was like magic,” said Trimble, who recorded 18 kills and six blocks.

The Crimson took games one and three by identical scores of 30-17, and out-hit its opponent with 80 kills to 75 and a percentage of .271 compared with .213.

“We beat them on paper,” Weiss said.

The second game was characterized by frequent lead changes, as no team led by more than three and was punctuated by errors on both sides.

Game four, however, saw Cornell lead by as many as seven.

“Overall, I thought we had a higher level of playing than in the past,” Trimble said. “There were crucial times, however, when we let them go on huge runs of four or five points at a time, which is a problem.”

Momentum wavered between the teams, with neither ever in a position of certainty.

“We had momentum in games one and three—in those, we really dominated,” Weiss said. “We need to capitalize on those moments and remember them for the next time we see them.”